


1 March 2012

by aadarshinah



Category: Stargate - All Series, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Declassification, F/M, M/M, Modern Era, Reveal, Stargate Atlantis AU, United Nations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-16
Updated: 2012-05-31
Packaged: 2017-10-31 06:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/341026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aadarshinah/pseuds/aadarshinah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After 16 years, the Stargate Program is finally revealed. More or less. </p><p>[SG1 S1-S10 / SGA S1-S5 / SGU S1]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> While this is part of the Ancient!John 'verse, none of the usual SGA cast appears herein until Part 2. Additionally, it does make referense to "Fratris Filii," which basically means it's Sam/Jack, but only in the background.  
> Please Note that this takes place on **1 March 2012**. This is just less than _five_ years after SG1's "Unending" and _three_ years for SGA's "Enemy At The Gate" _and_ SGU's "Air".  
>  For detailed [timeline](http://aadarshinah.livejournal.com/91945.html), see my lj.

1 March 2012  
or  
Patefacti

An Ancient!John Story

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a TRANSCRIPT of the

DEPARTMENT OF HOMEWORLD SECURITY

address to the UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

and the PEOPLE OF EARTH

[with annotations by the transcriber]

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01 March 2012 – 0800 EST

UN General Assembly Hall

[Music plays across the empty stage – the "Adagio" from Aram Khachaturian's ballet Gayane.]

[After a few bars, the room quiets and two dozen heads of state – to include the President of the United States; the British, Russian, and French Prime Ministers; and the Premier of China – enter the room, situating themselves in the chairs at the back of the dais. None come forward to take any of the three podiums set up downstage.]

[Midway through the "Adagio," the music cuts out and the noise in the room slowly falls. At it's nadir, three people enter from upstage right: DOCTOR DANIEL JACKSON, GENERAL JACK O'NEILL, and BRIGADIER GENERAL SAMANTHA CARTER, who take the podiums at downstage right, centre, and left respectively.]

JACKSON: Hello. [Jackson is a forty-six-year-old doctor of archaeology, anthropology, and linguistics. His suit is dark grey, his tie dark purple; his hair a greying brown. Behind wire-rimmed glasses, he blinks fastidiously for the first three minutes of his presentation, but, after that, appears to blink not enough.] I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson. To my right are Generals Jack O'Neill and Samantha Carter of the United States Air Force, and we are here to speak to you today about a recently declassified military research program codenamed 'Star Gate.' Our assistants will now hand out the prepared briefing materials, but – and I cannot stress this enough – we ask that you do not ask questions until the end of our presentation. We will take the time to answer any and all questions you have, only, again, we wait until we open the floor to ask them.

[Jackson gestures to the dozen or so military attaches across the room, who begin handing thick manilla envelopes to the members of the GENERAL ASSEMBLY and the gathered members of THE PRESS. While there is some murmur as the various members open their packets, there are no voiced questions. Jackson appears pleased by this as he turns to the note cards in his hand.]

JACKSON: In 1928, an artefact was uncovered by at a dig site near the Pyramid of Khufu by Professor Paul Langford. Its initial purpose and use was unknown, and it was brought back to the United States for further study. The device, which stood at 6.7 metres tall and weighed twenty-nine tonnes, was eventually discovered to contain the means of creating a stable, artificial wormhole to other devices like it throughout the Milky Way.

CARTER: The device – termed a Stargate – is part of a network of approximately three hundred thousand such devices scattered across our galaxy, allowing users to cross up to a hundred thousand light-years in a single step.

[Carter is forty-three-years-old and has been an Air Force officer for half of those – and a mother for the last six. Underneath her sharply-tailored dress blues and the heavy weight of service medals, she is clearly a beautiful woman, but starting to show both her years and her lifestyle. There's a touch of crow's-feet to her eyes, a liberal streaking of grey in her otherwise blonde hair. Despite all this, she is still a devastatingly beautiful woman, whose looks are rivalled only by her brains. She holds a doctorate in astrophysics, a masters in mechanical engineering, and a the command of a posting which, while highly classified, is known to be the destination of a large chunk of the armed forces' research and development budgets.]

While this may seem fantastic, the United States Air Force has been using this device successfully to travel to other planets for the last sixteen years. Do the rapidly expanding breadth of the Startgate Program, this briefing only covers the first half of our operations – which is to say, the declassification of nearly all of the missions run by Stargate Command between 27 July, 1996 and 3 July, 2005. And while, yes, there are a number of significant gaps in the materials now being handed to you – especially for June 2004 onwards, – this is done, not to hide our actions from the public at large any longer, but because we felt it was best to declassify the Stargate Program incrementally, and hope to make public the rest of our operations sometime within the next twelve to twenty-four months.

[There is some murmuring of discontent, of disbelief, of concern from the crowd. But, for the most part, the GENERAL ASSEMBLY and THE PRESS both appear to be in too much a stunned silence to do more than make these noises. The air of the Assembly Hall is one of uncertain anticipation rather than outrage, though the line is fine and growing thinner with each passing moment.]

JACKSON: The Stargates were created approximately sixty-five million years ago by a race of people known as the Ancients, who came to our galaxy following a thousand-year civil war in their own they called the Schisma. They settled on Earth and chose to seed life in their image upon our planet, guiding our evolution until, eventually, we reached a form not unlike their own. They also seeded the galaxy with Stargates, and sent out ships to seed both life and Stargates there as well.

The Ancients were not alone in the universe, however, and, while exceptionally scientifically advanced, were not invulnerable, and in the year 8451 BC began to experience a plague the likes of which they had never seen. After a century of trying to combat it, those of their species left this planet and this galaxy for elsewhere, leaving behind a few of their artefacts – including the Stargates – and the species they had created – humanity, or Terrans, as they called us.

In the year 8177 BC, Earth was rediscovered by alien entities – this time by a race of parasitic beings known as the goa'uld who fancied themselves gods and pretended to be characters out ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Babylonian mythology to control us.

O'NEILL: The goa'uld are power hungry bastards.

[O'Neill is something of an unknown amongst the figures on the stage. Whereas Jackson and Carter have both been nervous and, overall, dead serious while saying their bits, O'Neill has and continues to look faintly bored by the whole proceeding. He has four stars on each shoulder and more medals than one would think possible to pin to one jacket-front, and the stern, faintly disproving expression one would expect of a man of his rank. He's almost sixty, has served in more wars than most people can readily name, and has retired twice – or so the rumours go – only to be called back into service, his skills are so invaluable. But as to what his skills actually are, no one appears quite sure – not even now, when it's clear that he's clearly some bigwig in the newly-revealed Stargate Program.]

[Jackson, for instance, is clearly the archaeological/historical/linguistic brains behind the operation and, for all that he is still faintly ridiculed for his 1992 book The Truth About The Pyramids, he's been regaining esteem in his field for several years, particularly since the fall of 2010, when he was hired to teach various ancient history and language courses at the United States Air Force Academy, which is notorious for hiring nothing but the best. To those familiar with his field, he's a little bit of a superstar.]

[The story is similar with Carter – she's the scientific brains behind it all, even if so much of her research is classified that she's not published anything in years, though she's known to be a close personal friend to Chern Medal winners John Sheppard and Rodney McKay, who have (the former even going to far as to dedicate his revolutionary monograph, On the Distribution of Primes in Riemann Zeta Functions, to her), rather profusely.]

[So there is clearly something more to O'Neill than is first obvious. With digging, it's possible to come up with a few details – that he's a masters in aerospace engineering; that he once (accidentally) sent a yo-yo through a glass pane in the White House, breaking several irreplaceable pieces of Van Buren family china; that he's been married to Carter for more years than are strictly in accordance with military law – but nothing substantial.]

JACKSON: Yes, thank you, Jack. As I was saying, the goa'uld are a race of sentient parasitic aliens who discovered Earth in 8177 BC and posed as our gods for a large part of our history, transporting many of their worshippers to other worlds be their slaves there. A rebellion in 3117 BC caused Ra – the goa'uld who controlled Earth at the time, and stood as the... emperor of sorts of the other goa'uld System Lords – to loose control of the Stargate, effectively cutting Earth off from the rest of the universe. Until, with General Carter's help, we were able to determine the means by which the Stargates operate...

O'NEILL: But the science stuff will come later – as I understand it, we've a whole week of show and tell lined up for all interested parties. Mostly, we're here to give you the general overview at the moment, which is basically that, while, yes, we're not alone in the universe, we're more than able to take care of ourselves. We've stopped the end of the world – how many times now, Carter?

CARTER: Fifteen now, sir. [She says this automatically, clearly not even giving her answer thought until after she's said it. Her eyes dart quickly to O'Neill – who doesn't seem to pay any attention to this at all, save for the way one corner of his mouth quirks slightly higher – before down to her podium before back to the crowd.]

O'NEILL: See, no trouble at all. So, what do we still have to go over?

[This question appears directed to Jackson, who looks momentarily flustered before glancing down at his note cards. After a moment, he appears to decide they're no longer necessary and tucks them into one of his jacket pockets, before turning with an indulgent, exasperated smile towards downstage centre.]

JACKSON: Just the uncovering of the cover-ups, really. And there's some more history of the-

O'NEILL: Let's skip the history for now. So... cover-ups, where do we start?

CARTER: That meteor shower in '98 that was really the remains of Apophis' Ha'tak. [By the conversational tone all three have picked up, it's unclear as to whether any of them still remember their audience, the press, or the television cameras.]

O'NEILL: Wasn't that 2000?

JACKSON: No, that was a decommissioned satellite and the remains of the Beliskner.

CARTER: I think he means the Ha'tak with Thor's consciousness on board that showed up in '02.

JACKSON: [Frowning.] Hmm. I don't remember that one.

O'NEILL: Of course not. You were doing the whole white light thing then.

JACKSON: Which reminds me, what did we tell people about the Battle of Antarctica?

CARTER: Training exercise.

JACKSON: In Antarctica?

O'NEILL: Multinational training exercise.

JACKSON: Huh. And people bought that one? [Jackson blinks and turns slightly, which seems to remind him that he's in a room with over two hundred people in it, almost all of whom are rapidly moving from stunned silence to variously vocal levels of disbelief.] But, er, Jack's right. There's plenty of time next week to go over the details. So, keeping that in mind, uh, are there any questions?

[The room erupts with noise.]

END TRANSCRIPT


	2. 1.5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A transitional peice. Also, because people really wanted more of this.   
> I spent more time than I should trying to figure out just who would be the 2dozen on the dias, and, yes, realize I've given both France and Russia a president and prime minister - done so because both posts are important in their respective goverments, and it seemed appropriate

1 March 2012  
or  
Patefacti [Part 1.5]

An Ancient!John Story

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a TRANSCRIPT of the

DEPARTMENT OF HOMEWORLD SECURITY

address to the UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY

and the PEOPLE OF EARTH

[with annotations by the transcriber]

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01 March 2012 – 0833 EST

UN General Assembly Hall

[The room erupts with noise. Shouts from every corner, in every language imaginable, fill the air.]

[The security personnel for the various heads of state are starting to grow visibly anxious, their hands going reflexively to both their guns and their earwigs, ready to shoot or call in reinforcements if need be. The fact that their 'targets' are a combination of UN ambassadors and member nations' heads of state seem to matter very little to them at the moment – though, given the slightly mobish air to the room, it's an understandable oversight.]

[The two dozen heads of state on the dais – to include the PRESIDENTS OF BRAZIL, FRANCE, INDONESIA, MEXICO, RUSSIA, SOUTH AFRICA, SOUTH KOREA, and the UNITED STATES; the PRIME MINISTERS OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRIA, CANADA, EGYPT, FRANCE, GERMANY, INDIA, ISRAEL, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, RUSSIA, SAUDI ARABIA, TURKEY, the UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, and the UNITED KINGDOM; and the PREMIER OF CHINA – are starting to become, if not outwardly anxious, than decidedly uncomfortable with the way the briefing has progressed thus far. It is clear that more than one of them had expected the announcement that not only was humanity not alone in the universe, but they had been engaging with it for almost two decades now, to have gone much smoother than it so far has.]

[The speakers at the podiums – JACKSON, O'NEILL, and CARTER – watch with varying degrees of toleration, trepidation, and annoyance, until, at last, from downstage centre-]

O'NEILL: Everybody. [He scolds less than shouts.] Shut. The hell. Up. 

[It is also more than clear that the various high-ranking officials in the room are decidedly not used to being spoken to in this matter, but it gets O'NEILL the result he was undoubtedly wanting.]

O'NEILL: Try to remember you're on television. [He gestures towards one of the camera set-ups just to the left of the stage.] Live, probably, too. So try to act like you're actually worthy of your peoples' votes, at least until the cameras are turned off.

[CARTER snorts at this, the noise loud enough to be picked up her microphone.]

[O'NEILL waggles his eyebrows at her.]

JACKSON: [Pointedly clearing his throat.] Yes, well, it appears that this is not going to be the appropriate forum for a Q & A... So why don't we let everyone take a look at the briefing packet and we'll have some sort of panel or something set up by, oh, noon or so for those of you who want it. And, for those of you who don't, I know that several members of the group behind me are planning on giving an address at five tonight, so...

[The room erupts into noise again as those on dais are ushered out by members of security.]


	3. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is set 1 March 2012, just under five years after the events of SG1's S10 and three years after (the Ancient!John take of) SGA's S5. It is intended to be compliant with both, and while a future!fic for the Ancient!John verse, isn't really spoilery. That being said, the timeline (thru "Legati") can be found [here.](http://aadarshinah.livejournal.com/91945.html)

1 March 2012 

[Part 2]

An Ancient!John Story

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a TRANSCRIPT of the

DEPARTMENT OF HOMEWORLD SECURITY

question and answer session for

the PEOPLE OF EARTH

[with annotations by the transcriber]

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01 March 2012 – 1202 EST

U Thant Meeting Hall

[The hall is brimming to capacity but eerily silent, the only sounds being the occasional murmur of apology as someone works his or her way down the hastily prepared aisles to a seat further down and the omnipresent rustle of paper as the information packets the military attaches had passed out earlier are read and reread. Members of nearly every major news organization are present, waiting.]

[It's oddly restrained for a day that will forever be remembered in history as the day humanity learns it's not alone in the universe. But, then again, the loudest of the doom-sayers had been politely escorted out of the General Assembly by military police, and those who remain are smart enough to hold back their opinions, whatever they may be, until such a time as they can be answered. Or televised as being denied answers.]

[There is a dais at one end of the room and, on it, a generic, blue-bunted conference table with seats for six. Four of these have engraved nameplates set in front of them and read, from stage left to stage right: Col. Cameron Mitchell, Commander, SG-1; Dr. Daniel Jackson, US Air Force Academy, SG-1 (ret.); Brig. Gen. Samantha Carter, Commander, Stargate Command; and Gen. Jack O'Neill, Commander, Dept. of Homeworld Security. The other two, located at either end of the table, each have a small stack of card paper and a black marker in front of them, presumably so that whoever may sit there can make their own.]

[The meeting was supposed to start at noon. THE PRESS is getting restless.]

[At 1204, three people – COLONEL CAMERON MITCHELL, DOCTOR DANIEL JACKSON, and BRIGADIER GENERAL SAMANTHA CARTER – enter from stage left and take their seats.]

JACKSON: Sorry about that. [Whatever has happened behind scenes in the last four hours, Jackson has somewhat lost his earlier exuberance – and his tie – during it. Still, with a grin that doesn't quite reach his eyes,] Jack – General O'Neill – is caught up in a meeting with some heads of state, so he's running a little late, so I thought we could take the time to reintroduce ourselves. I know you all have questions, so we'll try to be brief... Cam, you want to go first?

MITCHELL: Okay. [Mitchell, however, looks like he'd rather do anything but. He's forty-one, but there's something about him that seems incredibly boyish compared to the others. He's all dark hair (in a close military cut) and straight lines and crisp corners, in a way that seems almost a hollow imitation of officers like O'Neill and Carter, who, while not the cookie-cutter ideal of what an United States Air Force officer should be, seem far the more capable.] Well, I'm Colonel Cam Mitchell, US Air Force. I've been with SG-1 for six, almost seven years now.

JACKSON: Okay then, [Jackson says after a moment, seemingly put out that Mitchell had been quite that brief,] I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson, and I've been with the Stargate Program since it's inception back in '96. I was on SG-1 – that's the name for Stargate Command's flagship team – until I retired to teach at the Air Force Academy in August of 2010. I'm still involved in the research side of things, though, and do a lot of contract work for Homeworld Security. [He looks at Carter meaningfully.]

CARTER: I'm Brigadier General Samantha Carter. [Like Jackson, she looks more harried than before, with more wisps of hair escaping its bun than being contained by it.] I was originally brought on in to design and program the dialling computer we use to dial our Gate, in lieu of a DHD, but was a member of SG-1 from 1997 to 2007, the last three of those as its commanding officer. From December 2008 until December of last year I was CO of the USS George Hammond, one of our 304s. Since then, I've held command of the SGC.

REPORTER 1: And from '07 to '08? [Shouts an indistinct female voice from the back of the hall.]

CARTER: [Grimly,] That's classified. And I'd ask that you please keep your questions to yourself until such a time as you're called upon. We plan on taking as many questions as possible before the Heads of States' press conference at 1700, but will only be able to do so if everyone continues to behave in a calm and orderly manner. [She looks at her watch, biting her lower lip.] And it looks like Jack's still running late... So do we just want to get started?

JACKSON: Sure... Though, let me just add for the benefit of those who might've skipped the bio section of their packet, Jack – General O'Neill – has also been with the Stargate Program since the beginning. He was in charge of the first Abydos mission, and headed SG-1 for seven years. He headed Stargate Command for the last half of '04 and most of '05, before taking over the Department of Homeworld Security – which, at the time, was part of the Department of Defence, but has been it's own department ever since the 2010 restructuring...

MITCHELL: [Grinning at the crowd,] Don't call him Secretary though.

CARTER: [Raising her eyes heavenward,] Yes, please, don't.

JACKSON: Be that as it may, we've plenty of other things to go over today... So how about we work our way left to right with the questions, starting in the front row and working our way back? Everyone gets one question to start out with and, if we've time, we'll circle back around.

CARTER: Sounds good to me. So... Specialist? [She indicates a young man man in formal dress near the front of the room, who promptly delivers the microphone in his keeping to the reporter sitting in the first seat on the front row.]

REPORTER 2: Bethany Alders for The Washington Post. My question is the one everyone's asking: Why now?

MITCHELL: That's an easy one. [Mitchell says with a laugh that makes him seem far more genial then his starched uniform and shining medals originally would suggest.] Basically, it boils down to the fact that the galaxy is currently undergoing a period of unprecedented peace, which everyone involved in the declassification project felt was important to have before we released anything.

REPORTER 2: But-

CARTER: One question per person, please, Ms. Alders.

[The specialist takes the microphone from REPORTER 2 and hands it to the next.]

REPORTER 3: Anthony Wilder, The Times of London. Colonel Mitchell, you said this is a period of unprecedented galactic peace, yet the debriefing materials make it clear that there have been – and, presumably, still are – several highly advanced races in play. How is Earth prepared to meet these enemies?

JACKSON: Well, I'll let Sam answer the military side of things, but, as Cam said, the Milky Way is entering a period of galactic peace not seen since the Ancients left our galaxy. The goa'uld, who were the only galactic power of any note for the last ten thousand years, are, at this time, all but extinct, with the remaining either being allied forces – the Tok'ra – or minor goa'uld who retain no real military strength. As for the Replicators, we've not encountered any in this galaxy since the Battle of Dakara nearly seven years ago... And, yes, while Earth has faced threats that have not yet been declassified, there have been no significant ones within the last two-and-a-half years.

CARTER: As for how we're prepared to meet these threats... Well, Earth is hardly defenceless. In fact, a large part of the cancellation of the Space Shuttle Program, as well as the planned Constellation Project, has been in anticipation of this declassification.

The United States Air Force, in concert with our allies, currently operate ten 304s – which are to say, Daedalus-class deep space carriers. Four more are operated by the PLAAF and VVS, with a fifth, the Ark Royal, being constructed for the RAF. Each is capable of carrying carrying sixteen F-302s, which are fighter-interceptor vehicles capable of functioning both in space as well as the upper atmosphere, and are armed, to varying degrees, with railguns, Asgard beam weapons, and nuclear warheads. At any given time, no less than two ships are in orbit of the planet.

Additionally, we maintain several F-302s on secure bases on-planet, and have control of a recovered Ancient weapons platform in the Antarctic, which is one of those things which really has to be seen to believed.

JACKSON: I think they've got some of the Prometheus footage of the Battle of Antarctica in the media packet that we're sending out on Friday.

MITCHELL: That's good. One hell of a fight, but it definitely shows what the Tau'ri can do when we put our mind to it.

CARTER: [Snorting,] That's one way of putting it. But, basically, Earth is more than capable of handing any threat that might come against it.

[The microphone passes right.]

REPORTER 4: Georg Hirsch, for Die Zeit. Isn't the kind of weapons platform you've spoken of a violation of the Antarctic Non-Proliferation Treaty?

CARTER: We've brokered new treaties.

REPORTER 4: But isn't that-?

MITCHELL: Sorry folks, one question per person.

REPORTER 5: Eugenio Biagi, la Repubblica. How many other secret treaties have our governments entered into, beyond the blatant disregard for the political neutrality of Antarctica?

JACKSON: [Mitchell rolls his eyes, but before he can answer, is interrupted by Jackson, who says,] I assure you, Signore Biagi, that the United Nations has been made aware of all treaties brokered by the SGC. In fact, the International Oversight Advisory that was formed after the discovery of the Antarctic outpost is technically a part of the United Nations, and has been integral to many the Stargate Program's operations since.

[Questions from Reporters 6 – 21 along with their responses are excised.]

REPORTER 22: Jane Martin, for The Denver Post. The media packet we received speaks of an Alliance of Four Great Races. What is this body's response to Earth's growing role in galactic politics?

JACKSON: Well... [Jackson appears somewhat apprehensive for the first time since this Q & A began, removing his glasses and polishing the lenses on a cloth fished from his pocket. He leaves the cloth on the table after he replaces his glasses and, somewhat haltingly, continues.] That's a thorny question. The Alliance still technically exists, but that's mostly as a formality. It was founded twenty-five million years ago by the Ancients and the three most advanced races they encountered after arriving in our galaxy: the Asgard, the Furlings, and the Nox. However, after the Ancients left ten thousand years ago, it sort of... fell apart. When they met, the members still honoured it, but...

CARTER: ...but each of the other three races had problems of their own.

MITCHELL: Yeah, the Asgard had the Replicators, and the Nox had this whole flower power thing going that sorta meant they didn't get involved in anything that wasn't spiritual enlightenment or something like that, and the Furlings... [Turning towards Jackson, genuinely curious,] What was the deal with the Furlings?

JACKSON: From what I'm given to understand, they had a highly segmented society. There were factions that eugenically modified themselves and others that chose to mechanically augment themselves and some that did both and some that did neither, either because they couldn't afford to or thought it was a crime against nature to do so. And all of these factions were constantly at war with each other, forming temporary coalitions that would break with the slightest pressure... They were around for a few centuries after the Ancients left, but fell out of contact in 6311 BC. The Asgard eventually assumed that they had destroyed themselves in civil war, or had else had reduced themselves to such a level that they were no longer capable of space travel.

CARTER: What Daniel is trying to get at is that, basically, for most of recent history the Alliance has been a non-issue.

MITCHELL: The Asgard did make a big deal outta us being The Fifth Race of their little Alliance before-

JACKSON: [Jackson's hand reaches out and immediately covers Mitchell's microphone. But only Mitchell's. His own remains uncovered and, while Jackson does his best to make it so only Mitchell hears, lip readers and master tape analysers will later confirm that he says,] Don't tell them that. The series finale isn't for another two weeks.

MITCHELL: [With an incredulous look,] You're concerned about Wormhole X-treme spoilers at a time like this?

JACKSON: [Jackson frowns, but removes his hand from the microphone, so that what follows is now clearly heard.] Needless to say, we have a healthy working relationship with the remaining members of the Alliance.

[Carter snorts.]

[Mitchell rolls his eyes.]

[Jackson frowns at both of them.]

[The microphone is passed to the next reporter.]

REPORTER 23: Jeremy Atwood, BBC. Speaking of aliens, how many, if any, are currently on Earth at this time?

CARTER: Depends on how you define alien. If you're talking about humans born on planets formerly under goa'uld rule, there are about forty, most of whom work for the SGC in some capacity. If you're talking about genuinely not human aliens, well... [She glances at her watch.] Unless Teal'c is running ahead of schedule, there actually aren't any on-world at the moment.

REPORTER 24: Oscar Bunbury, Mail & Guardian. This Teal'c is mentioned several times in the packet we were given. Why wasn't he present for the meeting with the General Assembly?

MITCHELL: The big guy has an important day job with the Free Jaffa on Dakara now. He should be here for the President's address later today though, so you'll get to see him then.

[Carter, as Mitchell speaks, writes something on a piece of paper and, after a waving an adjunct on stage, passes it to him, careful to angle it so the cameras cannot pick up the writing. Whatever it says, the adjunct's whispered response is apparently not to the general's liking, as she frowns as she writes out her response. The adjunct gives a sharp nod and rushes off stage.]

[Questions from Reporters 25 – 39 along with their responses are excised.]

REPORTER 40: Jennifer Knowles, The Los Angeles Times. Are you aware of the similarities between this Stargate Program and the Canadian-American science-fiction show Wormhole X-treme?

[Mitchell and Jackson exchange a look that makes on think money would later be changing hands.]

CARTER: [With a groan,] Yes. The Pentagon believed at the time that the show would be a good source of plausible deniability in case someone ever tried to come forward about the Stargate Program. Nobody at the time guessed that the show would be so popular, or so long-run. Least of all anyone at the SGC.

O'NEILL: Oh, I dunno Carter. [O'Neill says nonchalantly as he enters from state right. Unlike the others, who've long begun to show their weariness, O'Neill appears unaffected by – and uninterested in – the proceedings, despite the fact that, as Jackson mentioned earlier, he's just come from a meeting with two dozen of the world's most influential heads of state.] It started picking up after the third season.

CARTER: Whatever you say, Sir. [Carter ducks her head and, briefly, grins at O'Neill, who grins back.] How did your meeting go?

O'NEILL: Oh, you know how politicians get when they feel they've been backed into a corner... [O'Neill unbuttons the jacket of his dress blues before taking his seat at the table.] They've decided to eighty-six the plans they've spent the last five years pulling together and have us go ahead and make the announcement about phase two now.

CARTER: [With obvious disbelief, the gathered members of THE PRESS completely forgotten.] Seriously?

O'NEILL: Seriously.

JACKSON: But we don't have any of the materials – or the people- [Jackson protests.]

O'NEILL: Being called in as we speak.

CARTER: You mean...?

MITCHELL: [Leaning back in his seat,] Oh boy.

[And then a white light envelops the upstage.]

END TRANSCRIPT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLAAF is the Chinese Air Force. VVS - Russian Air Force. RAF - British Air Force.  
> If Wormhole X-treme premired in the real world following the in-verse timing of the episode of the same name, it would have come out in July of 2001. The series finale would, following the RL schedule of SG-1, fall on 13 March 2012. Pegasus X-treme would premire in July of 2009. The last episode of it's S3 - it's version of "First Strike" - would have aired on 5 February 2012. Details for the Ancient!John version of these shows can be found [here.](http://aadarshinah.livejournal.com/91107.html)  
> And I appologize for the delay in getting to this, but I really did intend pt 1 to be a onesie. finding the inspiration to write more of it took longer than I anticipated.


	4. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and we have SGA. Finally.

1 March 2012 

[Part 3]

An Ancient!John Story

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a TRANSCRIPT of the

DEPARTMENT OF HOMEWORLD SECURITY

question and answer session for

the PEOPLE OF EARTH

[with annotations by the transcriber]

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01 March 2012 – 1324 EST

U Thant Meeting Hall

[A white light envelops the upstage. It dissipates almost as quickly as it appeared, leaving behind DOCTOR RODNEY MCKAY and COLONEL JOHN SHEPPARD in it's wake.]

MCKAY: -just that it's some sort of emergency. I don't know anything more about it than... you... do. [McKay trails off as he notices the unexpected audience the Asgard beam has left him with.]

[McKay is just shy of forty-four, with PhDs in astrophysics and mechanical engineering, a fast receding hairline, and impossibly blue eyes. He's wearing a dark grey uniform of no recognizable origin, the jacket zipped only halfway, revealing a black shirt underneath. It's not formal attire by any means, and he tugs the hem of his jacket nervously for a second before self-consciously balling them into fists at his sides.]

SHEPPARD: Huh. [Sheppard, at forty-one, claims a doctorate in applied mathematics, a Fields Medal for his solution to the Riemann Hypothesis, and the ability to pilot anything that can be made to fly. These things, in combination with his rakish good looks and his somewhat controversial personal life have made him the closest thing to a rock star the world of mathematics has ever seen – and, thusly, a recognizable figure to most the people in the meeting hall, unlike the others. This unwanted stardom is said to embarrass Sheppard greatly but, if this is true, he doesn't show it.]

[His own uniform is vaguely military, with space for shoulder-boards on his button-down, though he wears none. The entire outfit is black upon black upon black, with the only colour of any sort being the patch of the United States flag he wears on one shoulder. There's a pistol as well, more gunmetal than black, and it's from this that Sheppard removes his hand as he speaks, seemingly unperturbed.] Well, this is unexpected.

O'NEILL: Sheppard.

SHEPPARD: What's with the crowd, General?

O'NEILL: Oh, you know me, Colonel. There's nothing I like more I like better than a national security briefing than a good ol' fashioned press conference.

SHEPPARD: Looks like a hell of a party too. [He says with a smirk, eyeing the gathered members of THE PRESS-

[-who have gone utterly silent in their shock, though shock might be the wrong word for it. The majority appear surprised, yes, but the existence of the Asgard beam and a series of images of it in use had been included in the debriefing packet. No, for all their surprise, the fact remains that most of them, to some degree or another, have faced the startling and unexpected. They're political reporters. Those who haven't been embedded in combat units at some point or another have interviewed warlords and senators and leaders of terrorist cells. They've learned to moderate their reactions. They know silence is what is wanted now.] 

[Besides, this is the story of the year – if not the century – and no one with clearance to make it this far is stupid enough to risk their piece of it.]

MITCHELL: Yeah, well, mom and dad made us invite them.

SHEPPARD: Speaking of invitations, not that we're not glad to be here, wherever here is-

JACKSON: We're in a conference room at the United Nations Headquarters.

SHEPPARD: That's New York City, right?

[Jackson blinks at him.]

CARTER: [Bemused.] Yeah.

SHEPPARD: Never been to New York before.

MCKAY: You're not missing anything. [He takes the seat to stage right of Mitchell.] Unless you happen to like perpetual dirt and construction and traffic, which I don't.

SHEPPARD: [Not so much taking the seat to stage left of O'Neill and slumping into it.] I take it you didn't invite us for the sight-seeing tour then. Or the canapés.

CARTER: Not so much, John.

O'NEILL: After a long and, frankly, boring talk, the IOA decided to go ahead and release the rest of the Stargate Program today as well.

MCKAY: [Perking up.] You mean-?

O'NEILL: Be my guest.

JACKSON: Actually, Jack. [He interrupts, leaning around Carter to look at him directly.] Don't you think it would be better if we explained the Expedition first before going into what, for lack of a better word, we found there?

O'NEILL: Oh, if we must. [He glances at Sheppard, who shrugs and leans back in his chair.]

JACKSON: Well then, as you all undoubtedly read in your debriefing packets, [He says, addressing the gathered members of THE PRESS at last,] in March of 2004 we found an Ancient outpost in the Antarctic, not far from where we discovered the beta gate. This, of course, contained the weapons platform you were all so concerned about earlier.

What you don't know is that we didn't just stumble across the outpost as an extension of the work being done at White Rock. We were actually looking for The Lost City of The Ancients. What we found was actually the location of Atlantis while it was on Earth, the city itself being essentially a giant spaceship, which they took with them when they left our galaxy.

Using the information we found in the Antarctic outpost, we were able to determine the location of where the Ancients took Atlantis, which was actually a planet in the Pegasus galaxy. The Pegasus Dwarf Irregular Galaxy, to be specific, some three million light years away.

CARTER: And that's where Doctor McKay and Colonel Sheppard come in. [She gestures at each.] Doctor Rodney McKay has been a part of the Stargate Program since 1997 and has been the Head of the Science and Research Departments on Atlantis since the Expedition was started back in July of 2004. And as for Colonel Sheppard... Well, he's been Head of the Expedition since late '09, but was it's military commander for five years before then.

REPORTER 41: [Having somehow managed to gain control of the microphone from the reporter from The Los Angeles Times, who'd been trying to retain control of it throughout the previous.] Peter Webber, CNN. Are you trying to tell us that The Lost City of Atlantis is real?

SHEPPARD: [Fractiously.] She was never lost-

MCKAY: One second, John. We'll get to that. What I want to know first is how this guy can accept the idea of wormholes that can take people to other planets and aliens and all the rest, but it's The Lost City of Atlantis he has trouble wrapping his mind around-

MITCHELL: Hey, McKay. Tone it down a little, will you? There are, like, children watching this in classrooms all over the world. We don't want to scar any of them for life more than we have to.

MCKAY: [Scathingly.] If telling the truth is enough to scar them for life, it serves them right.

[That being said, he continues less caustically,] But, yes, Atlantis exists. No, she was technically never lost, and, yes, she was sunk beneath the ocean, but that was intentional and she was totally still habitable afterwards because of her shield... What it all boils down to though is, all the stuff in your quaint little debriefing packets they handed out earlier? It's nothing compared to discoveries that have come out of Atlantis.

CARTER: Gee, thanks Rodney.

MCKAY: We'll see who's laughing when they start handing out the Nobel prizes.

SHEPPARD: Rodney. [He draws the word out in such a way that it seems to have more syllables than it ought.] Play nice.

MCKAY: Name one time in the last eight years when that's actually worked.

SHEPPARD: Don't ruin this for me, Rodney.

MCKAY: [Rolling his eyes.] Fine. Knock yourself out.

SHEPPARD: [Dryly.] Thank you. [He turns back towards the audience, and pauses halfway through rubbing his hands together to raise them, joined, to his lips. When they lower, one of them goes to fiddling with the cord for his microphone.] In that case, I suppose a re-reintroduction is in order. I'm Iohannes Ianideus Licinus Pastor, and, basically, I'm pretty much the last Alteran in the universe and the first alien most of you will ever met. But you can just call me John. Everyone else does.

[For a long moment, nothing seems to happen. No one speaks, or breathes, or even moves.]

[And then, suddenly, like a wave it breaks, and the room erupts with noise.]


	5. 4

1 March 2012 [Part 4]

An Ancient!John Story

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a TRANSCRIPT of the

DEPARTMENT OF HOMEWORLD SECURITY

question and answer session for

the PEOPLE OF EARTH

[with annotations by the transcriber]

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01 March 2012 – 1346 EST

U Thant Meeting Hall

[And then, suddenly, like a wave it breaks, and the room erupts with noise.]

O'NEILL: [Barely audible above the roar of the crowd, and mostly recovered by later analysis of the tape,] Seriously? That's the best you got?

SHEPPARD: Would you have preferred I come in peace?

O'NEILL: Yeah. Maybe.

SHEPPARD: It'll be fine. Promise. They can't do anything we haven't seen a dozen times over in Pegasus.

JACKSON: And at least the people in this galaxy aren't predisposed towards worshipping you as one of their gods.

SHEPPARD: [Appearing to consider this.] Yeah, always a plus. But still. You lot like half-a-million first contact movies out there. Everything worth saying has already been said, so I kinda just wing it at this point.

JACKSON: [Disbelievingly.] You just wingit.

MCKAY: He had a speech for a while – this whole thing about their tech being science, not magic – but they kept ignoring it and tried to worship him anyway, so he stopped using it. Thankfully. [At Sheppard's unamused look.] What? It couldn't have been any more 1967 if improbable amounts of tinfoil and hairspray had been involved.

SHEPPARD: Love you too Rodney.

[MCKAY inexplicably reddens and looks away.]

O'NEILL: Yes, well, as delightful as that is, that doesn't change the fact that you made this mess. [O'NEILL gestures towards the gathered members of THE PRESS, who are still deafening in their disbelief, though, through the intervention of several UN military policemen, less so than initially.] You clean it up.

SHEPPARD: Oh, fine.

[He lifts two fingers to his mouth and whistles, loudly and sharply enough that it's heard over the multitude of voices that fill the room. They fall silent almost as one, and he continues:] Look, people of Terra, I get that this is a big moment for you. I really do. But take it from those of us who've had some experience in these matters that it's really best that everyone just calm down before trigger fingers start getting twitchy.

O'NEILL:Remind me why I put you in charge of Atlantis again?

SHEPPARD: [Smartly.] 'Cause the city likes me?

O'NEILL: Yeah, that must be it...

MITCHELL: Well, you can't fault his methods.

JACKSON: Be that as it may, we've... [He glances at his watch.] just under three hours before the President's conference, and it'd probably be best to get as many questions out of the way as possible before then.

[Turning back towards the gathered members of THE PRESS.] But, yes, Colonel Sheppard is, as you say, an alien. More specifically, he's an Ancient, which is to say, a member of the race which built the Stargates and the city of Atlantis, amongst other things. He appears incidentally human because sixty-five million years ago, when his ancestors first came to this galaxy, they chose to seed life here in their image, the end result of which was us.

Because of this similarity, we were able to create for him a false identity as a then-major in the United States Air Force, which allowed him to move freely when he was on-world, as opposed to some of the restrictions we had to place on our other alien allies do to them being, well, too alien in appearance to blend in.

Now, if you'll all just be seated, we'll pick up where we left off with the questions.

[Some time passes before everyone resumes their seats. When everyone is settled, the questioning resumes with-]

REPORTER 55: Andrew Yeager, The Sydney Morning Hearld. Colonel Sheppard, Ian-

SHEPPARD: [Wincing.] Call me John. Please.

REPORTER 55: Yes, well, John. You claim to be an Ancient-

SHEPPARD: I prefer the term Alteran.

REPORTER 55: [Growing flustered,] What can you tell us about your people?

SHEPPARD: Not much that hasn't already been said. [He shrugs.] Most of my people were scientists. Wanted to know everything about everything, with little regard to the consequences. I'm pretty much all that's left.

REPORTER 56: Timothy Johnson, Chicago Tribune. If you're all that's left, what happened to the others?

MCKAY: They Ascended. Basically evolved to the point where they could turn themselves into energy and inhabit a different plane of existence. If you want more information, it should be in packets they probably gave you earlier. They had to declassify it for all the times Doctor Jackson here went all white and glowing.

JACKSON: Twice. I only Ascended twice. And the second time totally doesn't count.

SHEPPARD: Of course it doesn't. [SHEPPARD says breezily.]

JACKSON: [Turning his look of frustration from one end of the table to the other,] You're one to talk, Colonel.

CARTER: As amusing as this is to watch, [She grins.] we are on a time schedule here. And live television.

SHEPPARD: Sorry, ma'am. [He grins at THE PRESS.] Next question?

MITCHELL: [He holds up a hand to silence REPORTER 57.] I dunno, Sheppard. It might be easier if you just gave them Ancient History 101. Save us all a couple headaches.

MCKAY: Don't listen to him. He's just trying to get out of having to answer any questions himself.

MITCHELL: Hey, Doc. If they wanna ask me questions, they can go right ahead. But I tell you nobody's going to want to ask me anything after that little show of his, so we might as well make it as least painful for the rest of us as possible.

CARTER: [With exasperation.] Live television, guys. [She makes as if to continue, but then O'NEILL catches her eye and, though nothing is said, it is enough to keep her from doing so. Though she does sigh. Quite audibly.] 

O'NEILL: Mitchell may have a point there, Colonel.

SHEPPARD: [Frowning.] You didn't need to recall Rodney and me for that. Doctor Jackson could've done it just as well.

MCKAY: Better, probably.

[SHEPPARD sends a hard look MCKAY's way. MCKAY seems either not to notice, or to long ago have become imune to it's effects.]

O'NEILL: But not with such flair.

SHEPPARD: Fine. [He snorts.] Don't say I never did anything for you, General. [SHEPPARD leans back in his seat, looking far less excited about the prospect of telling the world about his alien status than he did a quarter hour before.]

First things first: life didn't evolve on this planet. It evolved on Loegria, the Alteran homeworld, in a galaxy so far away from here that light from its stars won't ever reach Avalon before the universe comes to an end.

JACKSON: Avalon being what the Ancients called the Milky Way.

SHEPPARD: Yeah... Anyway, we evolved on Loegria, and around seventy million years ago we reached about the same level of tech Terra's at now.

JACKSON: Terra being what they call Earth.

SHEPPARD: Do you want me to tell the story or not?

JACKSON: Just trying to help.

MITCHELL: [In an aside, to JACKSON.] Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

MCKAY: [Testily.] You would be too if you were pulled out of bed at 0300 local time to come back to Earth and answer questions for the press, who obviously have less of an idea what they're talking about than usual.

MITCHELL: [Eyes going comically wide and looking rather like, if he were standing, he'd start reeling backwards.] Whoa, man! Too much information there.

MCKAY: [Rolling his eyes.] You started it.

SHEPPARD: Rodney, just let it go. I want to get this over with before we can get roped into anything else.

[MCKAY makes a go on motion with his hands.]

SHEPPARD: Now where was I? Oh yeah. So, you've got Loegria seventy million years ago and it starts setting up colonies on nearby worlds. But we'd not invented hyperdrives or the portae yet, so it was slow going. The colonies were largely cut off from the homeworld, which kinda worked in our favour as the two man factions on Loegria nuked each other into non-existence for reasons the colonists never could quite determine. Something to do with their respective religions, probably. Or water. They were always threatening to go to war over one or the other or both.

Over the next five million years or so the colonists develop hyperdrives, build a whole bunch of ships, and generally find themselves so much more advanced than any other species they encounter that it's frankly depressing. More often than not, we end up being worshipped as gods by the people of whatever planet we visit, and a rift forms between those who want to take the easy route and just let the natives believe whatever they want and those who want to tell them the truth.

Eventually, those that wanted to be worshipped as gods – the Haeretici – outnumbered those of us who felt otherwise, and a war broke out. We fought for a thousand years, but eventually fled in our urbes-naves to Avalon. We called this the Schisma.

JACKSON: More information about the Ori, or Haeretici, as John calls them, appears in the information packets we'll be releasing to you about phase two after this Q & A is over. [Casting a sidelong look at SHEPPARD.] What? Just trying to help.

SHEPPARD: Need I remind you there wouldn't have been any more information on the Haeretici if you'd not tried to make friends with them?

JACKSON: How were we supposed to know where the stones would take us?

SHEPPARD: You could've asked. 

MCKAY: [Snorting.] Do you seriously think that would've helped?

SHEPPARD: [Sounding quite certain.] Yeah. [Then less so.] Maybe. [Then resignedly.] I dunno. Just... don't do it again.

MCKAY: Don't tell the blood enemies of the Ancients where they ran off too. Great advice. I don't know why no one ever thought of it before.

JACKSON: [Indignant.] At least I didn't blow up an entire solar system!

MCKAY: First of all, it was only five sixths of a solar system – and it's not like it was even an inhabited one at that. And, secondly, how does letting lose an alien holy crusade on this galaxy even compare to the partial destruction of a solar system? Besides, it's not you can't say we didn't get anything out of it...

[JACKSON and MCKAY continue to bicker.]

SHEPPARD: [Turning towards O'NEILL.] Still think it was a good idea to invite us sir?

O'NEILL: Eh. More interesting, to say the least.

END OF TRANSCRIPT

**Author's Note:**

> As of 26.10.2012, this is now officially an abandoned AU of the AJ 'verse


End file.
